43Chapter one: Tayu the Scullery Maid
run
run run run run run
run faster dont stop dont stop run run run run run run run run run ill die don't stop keep running run run run run run
pain! running don't stop ill die run
run hes coming closer run run run I dont want die help someone please help me run
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Tayu shot upright, gasping for breath and thrashing in her bed in a blind panic, trying to fight off her unknown assailant. It was a full minute before she had calmed down enough to think properly and realize that she was lying safely in her own bed, and that the horrifying scene had been another nightmare. After that had made itself clear, she was finally able to breathe calmly, though her heart was still pounding and a splitting headache was starting to form right above her eyes. The former was fairly usual and usually ignored; the latter made dealing with the former seem like an epic task that was not worth getting out of bed for. Unfortunately, she didn't have the luxury of sleeping in.
She sat up as slowly as she could, nursing her now horribly throbbing head with a small whimper. "Oh, vix," she cursed softly, gripping her short hair tightly as if it would block the headache from taking over the what was left of her sanity after that horrible nightmare. "Not again." She could usually shake a headache, usually from a lack of sleep or food, off easily in the morning, but recently…
After a brief internal struggle, she managed to suppress the pain and bring herself to her feet. She stumbled to her small dresser beside her bed and rummaged though the bottom drawer. She quickly found what she was looking for tucked in a back corner; a small pouch of medicinal leaves. The moment that she opened the pouch, he stench of the seemingly innocent dried leaves reached her nose, making her gag. She hated puckermint, so named for its repulsively strong stench and equally strong pain-numbing properties. It was foul, and more importantly, very expensive. But…
She took a deep breath and quickly swallowed the tiniest leaf she could find and struggled not to throw it up and waste the precious medicine. When the gagging reflex stopped, she gave an immense sigh of relief and let the numbness wash over her. She knew the effects would wear off within the hour, but by then, her headache should have been long gone.
As she carefully placed the pouch back into her drawer, she gave a small sigh, feeling both miserable and relieved. The horrible nightmares and headaches had been plaguing her for over a month, and she had yet to find their cause or anything other than a temporary respite from the pain. Puckermint helped tremendously, of course, but she had heard that it could become addicting if one took it too often… and oh, it was so expensive! Tayu winced at the thought of how much food that tiny leaf could have bought her: a full breakfast of sausage, griddle cakes and apple juice… and maybe a slice of sweet bread on the side. But if she didn't take the puckermint, the pain would overtake her and no amount of food could bring her back to reality. It was a lesson she had learned the hard way.
Tayu began to stumble over to her small washbasin but froze when her foot hit something soft that gave a small squeak when it was lightly stepped on. She stiffened in surprise before rolling her eyes in agitated exasperation. "Amy!" Tayu scolded, bending down to shake the giant lump of blankets at her feet. "You know you're not supposed to sleep on the floor like that! Why aren't you sleeping on the bed? And—"
She was cut off when the lump wriggled excitedly and quickly produced not only the nine-year-old-girl who shared her one-room-house, but a shaggy terrier puppy. It yipped happily and jumped up to lick Tayu's shocked expression with a slobbery dog kiss. Tayu's shriek managed to wake the little girl still under the blankets, who yawned as she tossed her covers aside to see what all of the ruckus was about. The little dog heard the yawn and quickly switched targets, leaving Tayu to wipe the drool off of her face as he gnawed on the smaller girl's hand affectionately. "Good morning, Tayu," Amy said, still giggling and sleepily. "Slap was all cold last night and asked me to bring him in. And how could I say no to his face?" The last comment made her giggle even harder; Slap, the curly-haired terrier, was unarguably the scraggliest mutt either of them had ever seen. But, more importantly, he was also the sweetest, and chased any other small furry animals out of their small home.
Tayu was not impressed at the moment, however. "Amy!" she shrieked, horrified. "What on earth were you thinking, sleeping with the dog? You had a bath three days ago! And you have to go to Mrs. Taylor's today! You can't honestly be expecting to show up smelling like that-that-! Oh, I swear, if you catch fleas, I'll—!"
The threat was never finished, as the girl and dog had already dashed outside to narrowly avoid a scolding, causing such a noisy ruckus that Tayu would never have to worry about losing track of them. She huffed angrily and threw the blanket to the floor. "Well, then!" she grumbled. "Just don't expect me to be washing those blankets tonight!"
Of course, she couldn't stay angry at the little girl for long, and she knew that. Amy was her precious little sister she would never have; she was a beautiful, intelligent, and sugar-sweet little girl who was too curious for her own good. The complete opposite of Tayu. The thought of her growing up and away made a lump grow in Tayu's throat. She swallowed it immediately. After all, she was only nine. It would be another good seven years before the girl would be able to marry and move into a home of her own.
Taking a deep steady breath, she walked as slowly as she could to her small basin that refreshed itself every morning. The cool water gave her goosebumps, but helped clear the miserable start to the morning from her head. After her face was scrubbed clean, she inspected it in the small bronze mirror hanging above the basin and winced at what she found.
Tayu was by no means a beautiful girl, or even a comely one. Her piercing grey eyes were a little too wide to be completely human-more like fey or dryad, though she was certainly of human lineage—and her lips were a little too big. It was the kind of face that might look pretty on a doll or painting, but made people very nervous when they saw it walking around. She had been trying to hide it somewhat by growing her hair long and letting it cover her face, but when their already high rent had spiked up the previous month, she had reluctantly sold her long, dark brown waves to a wigmaker for a handsome sum. It was only now reaching an acceptable length for a sort of rugged pixie cut. But at least her hair had the potential to pretty; what could have been beautiful fair skin long, long ago was now covered in ugly brown freckles and various stages of burns from so much as peeking outside; what wasn't peeling away horribly from sunburn was undoubtedly flaking anyway—her skin dried out like a sea sponge and itched horribly if it was away from water for over a day. Tayu winced at the thought and stood back from the mirror, trying to console herself. Her body, she thought with forced enthusiasm, was not all so bad. Yes, she was very tall for her age, but not freakishly so. She had nice long arms, a long, if flat, torso, and her legs…
Alright, so her extremely long and scrawny legs that accounted for more than half of her height did make her freakishly tall.
She stood above every human woman that she had ever met, and was on eye-level with only one out of a thousand human men. The only time she could ever remember being truly dwarfed was when a traveling group of elves had performed in the city (and they had thought her a fellow elf at first glance!). It was unbelievably uncomfortable going anywhere outside and towering like a giant over everyone around her, and even after years of living in the area, the constant staring and whispering of people around her made her horribly self-conscious. She had recently begun to force herself to wear a worn traveling cloak whenever she was not at home or work. It sill caught much attention, but at least people did not stare so openly.
"But I can grow into my legs, right?" she asked her reflection hopefully. "I can still grow a little more at eighteen, can't I?" Her reflection's worried and guilty expression did nothing to ease her troubles. Her shoulders slumped, and she trudged away to her closet to find her uniform. "Or maybe I'll get old and shrink first," she grumbled in defeat.
The Lambricks were a noble family, and, therefore, one of the richest families in Tayu's hometown, Bayr. While noble blood was normally looked down on in such big, merchant-dominated cities, the Lambricks were very reasonable folk; they kept local taxes within realistic levels, and the Duke was inclined to give charity wherever possible. One prime example of their generosity would be their hiring orphans for their work. Every five years, they made a visit to the local orphanage, taking promising young girls that would otherwise be on the streets into their homes as maids and cooks, and arranging promising young men to apprenticeships with merchants and artisans all over the city.
And so began Tayu's work as a scullery maid.
"So," Tayu read to herself, staring up at the giant chalkboard hanging just inside the maid's quarters that held her monthly schedule. She had it memorized, of course, but it never hurt to double-check in case something had changed last minute. That was a lesson she had learned the hard way. "Today, I have to go buy more herbs for Maria—oh, that's just lovely, isn't it—and then salt…" Her expression, sour from the thought of walking through the market, brightened as she read the last line on the board. "And then I have to help prepare for Hallow's Eve Sunday."
Festivals were usually a painful event for anyone working in the kitchen, as banquets or food stalls usually required days of preparations and lots of maintenance. However, Hallow's Eve was Tayu's personal exception.
Hallow's Eve was the festival of Amun, the fey Spirit of luck, chance, and all manner of tricks, good or bad. Naturally, the festival of the trickster Spirit was a lighthearted one riddled with superstition and thinly-excused partying. Even though the festival was predominantly celebrated by fey, all races had their own interpretation. In the slightly-less-wild human festival, all participants wore masks, and sometimes costumes or wigs, supposedly to keep the Spirit from recognizing them and placing his mark on then. Of course, the mark was said to give great blessings just as often as horrible pranks and punishments, but very few were willing to take that fifty-fifty chance. He was a fey of the Unseelie kind, after all, and therefore not usually partial to humans.
Now, while she would undoubtedly be stuck handing out spice cakes to children for the entire night, and suffering for it the next morning, it was one of the few times she felt comfortable being around so many people and therefore something to be looked forward to every autumn.
"Well hallo there, my pretty scarecrow!" a happy voice said from below, quickly followed by a tight hug around Tayu's waist.
Tayu rolled her eyes and looked up at the ceiling, trying to hide her grin. "Hello, my sly little fox. What do you want this time?" She looked down at the smiling face of her plump best friend standing below her.
"Surprisingly, nothing," Ji said nonchalantly, though a certain glint in her bright green eyes said otherwise. She twirled a lock of her fox-red hair around a pudgy finger. "So… Hallow's Eve is tomorrow, huh?"
Tayu narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Small talk wasn't like Ji."Yes, already. This year seems to be going by fast, doesn't it?"
"Mm-hm," Ji hummed absently. "So… what are you dressing up as this year?"
Now Tayu was sure Ji wanted something. "It's a surprise. What are you dressing as?"
"Oh, that's a surprise too, I guess." There was an awkward moment of silence. "So, uh, what kind of things are you off to do today?"
"I have to go to the market for Maria," Tayu mumbled. "So, what are you doing?" Ji began to fidget, finally confirming Tayu's suspicions. She sighed and shook her head in mock disappointment. "Let me guess. You have to go wash fifty baskets of laundry by tonight, and that simply won't do because you have a romantic evening with your lovely Terrence tonight. What is it now, a romantic dinner on the docks? Or maybe a slow walk down the beach in the moonlight, hand in hand, making gooey eyes at each other?"
"Tayu!" Ji turned pink and stamped her foot. "Oh, that's not funny at all! He's inviting me to his parent's house, and I have to make a good impression on them, Tayu! I'd rather go reeking of basil than tell him no or, heavens forbid—"
"I know, Ji, I know. You don't have to grovel with me, because you know as well as I do that I'll take anything over going to market." There was a slight pause before she amended, "Except maybe scrubbing the butcher's shop." They both shuddered at the thought.
"Oh, thank you so much!" Ji hugged Tayu again, then reached up on her very tippy-toes to pat her shoulder encouragingly before dashing away down the hall. "I'll go tell Maria you've switched with me. I owe you big time for this!"
Tayu watched her leave feeling strangely relieved and disappointed at the same time. While she had narrowly avoided a dreaded trip to the marketplace, she now had to spend the rest of the day scrubbing dirty clothes in a hot, cramped room with five other women, and she would be home later than she had planned…
Well, it was still better than going to the marketplace, and the steamy air would definitely be an improvement for her dried out skin. Besides, she was quite used to laundry; it was her chore of choice at the orphanage, and at her rate, she would still be done before Mrs. Taylor's shop closed.
With that last bit of needed enthusiasm, she pushed up her sleeves and put her hands on her hips defiantly. "You can do this, Tayu," she told herself sternly, marching off to the . "Now, let's go show that dirty pile of cloth who's the boss around here!"
Author's Corner
It's been a long time, huh? Well, our time apart has only made me stronger and ache for your sweet embrace once more. And by your sweet embrace, I mean your wonderful readership. And by ache for, I mean crave, to the point where I should probably seek mental institution, for.
Now, I know people who have read the original story are thinking "What on Earth has happened to Tayu!" After all, she's gone from a cute young girl with chestnut waves to a towering monster with a muddy pixie cut. Well, truthfully, I love this Tayu a hundred times more than her previous incarnation (sorry, other Tayu!). I think that before, I was trying to make Tayu a perfect little sweet heroine, and that I kind of forced her into that role. The current Tayu is still sweet and still wouldn't hurt a fly, but she's no longer miss Mary Sue. She's extremely shy and a social recluse even though she loves being with people. Also, in this time and place, she is not what most people would consider a beautiful girl, with her freckles and tiny, lanky frame (I am working assuming that in the world she's living in, the current 'ideal woman' is similar to the Victorian ideal, with pale, flawless skin and a bit of plumpness). I'm hoping to draw and upload a decent picture of Tayu and maybe one of Lelouch sometime soon. Or really, whenever I feel not being lazy... –sweat-
On that cheerful note, I'm now going to start the long-overdue process of responding individually to reviews right here. I always try to PM you guys back when there's a question or typo I need to correct, but sometimes I forget. And… that's not good. D: I have serious ADD I should probably be taking medication for (and I'm not joking here for once), and small steps are still steps towards oh look a it's a kitty!
–runs to kitty-
Mary Iris: Holy goodness indeed, Mary! And thank you so much for your feedback for the original version, too. I really, really appreciate your reading and advice. I hope you enjoy!
d12e8k6: Thank you very much! I agree that this story is definitely an improved work. I still love the original, but, well… You know that feeling you get when you see a really bad picture you drew as a little kid and you think, "Oh, God, it's so adorable and embarrassing at the same time"? Well, I have that same sort of feeling looking back at it. I really hope you like the new version. (oh, and evil grin Hobbes FTW!)
QuirkyGurl: O! Why… –puts on Elvis voice- …Thank ya. Thank ya vury much. ;D
Reize: Heh heh… It was awfully conveniently placed there, wasn't it? ^ ^; This story will be, in general, a little more mature than the last version, so I'm trying to avoid those kind of 'Wait, what?' moments and go a bit more in-depth without drowning you guys in confusion.
Kippy: Aw! Thank you! –non-creeper internet hug- I think it's just as admirable to see you taking the time to watch me write the same story again. Since I'm slow as molasses and have the attention span of a gnat and all… ; A ; I truly appreciate you guys coming back to read this. Thank you so much.
(And now for two from the original story—hallo thar!)
A. J. Manders: Thank you very much!
Clueless (anonymous): Actually, I had already written a good bit of the original story before I got curious and googled everyone's names. I was actually really surprised to find the Code Geass edition of Lelouch, since I'm quite the otaku and had heard about the series but never looked into it. I have since watched most of the anime, but… Eh, it's not really my style. I'm more of a Honey and Clover and Bride of the Water God type of girl myself. ;3